Toledo — Tapas, Steak, & Seafood is Gran Destino Tower’s rooftop restaurant.

This Spanish-inspired spot is loaded with style, views, and thoughtful bites and beverages. You can click HERE for a FULL PHOTO TOUR of this exquisite space, and now we’re back with a FULL REVIEW.

This was a LONG dining experience, so settle in for some fun!

Atmosphere

This elegant space is built to take advantage of the views that sweep over Walt Disney World, with proximate views of Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Whether diners are seated at an interior table or a window-adjacent one, floor-to-ceiling windows are visible from everywhere in the space.

Massive windows with arched details allow diners to see for miles — or to see just as far as the nighttime spectaculars at the neighboring Parks if they wish! Cast members describe views from Toledo as being “glimpses” of fireworks; still, we think this unique perspective on the World will be a sought-after experience.

In addition to the stunning views, Toledo really brings some style to the table. As is the case with the entire Tower, materials are thoughtfully selected to create dimension, balance, and contrast. Wood and wood-like materials are used in tandem with metal, and curved lines contrast with linear shapes.

Table settings are simple, detracting not at all from the surrounding design or the views. Though we do think there may be an argument to be made for tablecloths in a higher-end location like this.

The vast menu, a glass of water, a wine glass, and a candle are utilitarian and not at all fussy.

Additional silverware is brought to the table in a small earthenware pot, along with small plates for sharing apps and other goodies. We’re wondering if this is supposed to make us think of an artist’s studio, seeing as so much of the new tower is art-inspired? Otherwise, it’s kind of strange.

We were shown to a window-side table and enjoyed views of Lago Dorado, Three Bridges Bar & Grill, and the World beyond.

That view included Disney’s Hollywood Studios, easily recognizable for the Tower of Terror. But we spy with our little eyes: Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge! What do you think? You want weekly construction updates from Toledo? Okay, if we must. 😉

As dusk approached, the view changed, with lights now visible on Tower of Terror in the distance.

Back inside, two olive trees anchor the interior design, celebrating the history of olive oil production in Spain, which supplies about half of the world’s olive oil. (Fun fact: it’s said that the Phoenicians first brought olive trees to Spain, so if you’re enjoying some EVOO, thank the Phoenicians!)

Other decor elements at Toledo include grand metal light fixtures that cast light and shadow around the space at night, their shapes alluding to Gaudi’s signature style.

And even with all of this, you won’t be able to help but to look up. The curved ceiling running down the center of the restaurant is vaulted to provide a sense of airiness, but the design is all energy and brightness.

It features a stained glass design similar in spirit to that used in the downstairs Barcelona Lounge, and the colors change here at Toledo, tapping into the potential for light and color to create mood.

Day or night, this is a piece of evolving art befitting a restaurant infused with 1930s avant-garde. Toledo is glossy, artistic, elegant, and bright — a special place to enjoy dinner atop the entire World.

Eats

The menu at Toledo features an array of tapas, steak and seafood entrees, and beverages with specialties and ingredients representing the cuisines of Spain.

The Beverage Menu at Toledo features a limited — but quality — selection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. Beer and Hard Cider include options from Spain, America, and Belgium.

Cocktails include the Sangria Tinto also offered in Barcelona Lounge and Dahlia Lounge.

Fountain soda, iced tea, lemonade, and Zero Proof Cocktails make up the offerings without alcohol. (Is anyone else loving the “zero proof” designations? So fun.)

The wine list at Toledo is extensive, and a large wine storage area is visible from the dining room, too.

Gran Destino Tower celebrates that 80% of its vintages are from Spain, with California wines also being offered.

Categories of food items on Toledo’s menu include Pintxos (small plates), Cazuela (Spanish for cooking pot and referring to a variety of dishes), House Boards (with cheese and charcuterie), Entrees, Sides, and Desserts. There are also kids’ appetizers (a la carte) and kids’ Create Your Own with both entree options and sides options.

Our server shared that Pintxos at Toledo are “pinches” or what the French call amuse-bouche: a bite-size portion that packs a big flavor punch. As such, you can try several small bites (rather than small plates, as is typical of tapas) and experience a lot of unique flavor combinations.

Cazuelas are designed to capture the spirit of cooking a hearty meal in a pot, and dishes from this section of the menu are served in small terra cotta pots in that tradition. The spirit of these dishes is warm and homey — comfort food, like if grandma made you a pot of chicken noodle soup — only it’s Rioja-braised Chorizo. 😉

At an earlier media event, we photographed two of Toledo’s Cazuelas: Charred Octopus and the Stuffed Piquillo Peppers.

These are what we might consider to be tapas-sized dishes, packing bold tastes in a small package — but bigger than the Pintxos!

Appetizers and Entrees offer variety for food lovers of all persuasions. Appetizers like Heirloom Tomatoes and Romaine Salad play up fresh produce while entrees like Hanger Steak and Scallops showcase proteins.

Sides at Toledo offer some interesting options like Blistered Shishito Peppers and Mediterranean Broccoli. And Desserts celebrate chocolate, coffee, and fruit — sometimes all at once!

The Kids’ Menu at Toledo is a wild affair, with plenty of activities to keep the kiddos occupied during your meal.

The menu offers some customization, with kiddos selecting one Entree (including options like Grilled Steak, Sustainable Fish, and a Beef and Mushroom Blend burger) and two Selections (Roasted Whole Carrots, Macaroni & Cheese, Chocolate Pudding, etc.). Be sure to speak up if your kids have special requests (like if they really wanted chicken nuggets, which aren’t available, but would settle for mac and cheese as their entree instead); there’s no guarantee the restaurant can accommodate, but we know they typically try!

The inside of the kids’ menu features games with a Descendants theme.

Yeah, it’s a lot.

We began our meal with two colorful, inspired appetizers: Heirloom Tomatoes and Savory Churros.

As promised, Heirloom Tomatoes highlights this artisanal food — those heritage tomatoes that have not been cross-pollinated and that maintain historic flavor, shape, and color.

Here, they’re celebrated. Our dish was plated with fresh purple, orange, red, and yellow tomatoes of different sizes and varieties. They tasted incredibly fresh.

The tomatoes are accented by fresh slivers of stone fruit — peaches and plums for us. The sweetness was a nice accompaniment to the tomatoes.

Farmer’s cheese — pressed cottage cheese — is dropped in small spoonfuls onto the tomatoes. Yogurt crisps are placed on top. These added some fun texture — almost wafer-like.

Fermented garlic puree is unceremoniously splattered onto the plate, creating some edible art (or a cringy mess, depending on your perspective) and loading the dish with garlicky flavor. Overall, this appetizer is a light, flavorful foray into the freshness of Spanish cooking.

Savory Churros go another direction. 😉 These fried fingers of dough are crispy, colorful, and not at all what you expect if you’re a theme parks churro kind of person!

For starters: they’re savory, dusted with a fine layer of cheese rather than cinnamon and sugar. Micro-basil adds some pops of green, and the churros are fried golden brown.

We love the fun and freestyle shape of these churros, which are essentially several wonky fingers of fried dough intertwined in a pile of delightful fried doughness. Simply put: Savory Churros are fun!

Savory Churros are also delicious. 😉 The golden fried dough (made with simple all purpose flour) is very satisfying, with exactly the mouthfeel and crunch you want from a churro.

Seasoning here is minimally spicy — similar to Old Bay. But with a squeeze of lemon (provided with the dish), it’s terrific. Totally crave-worthy.

The Romesco Sauce that comes with the churro brings some nuttiness and heat, and while it, too, was tasty, it’s not entirely necessary. These Savory Churros sing all on their own.

For Entrees, we started with Golden Tilefish. This was our least favorite dish of the night because the fish itself was…fishier than we expected. Tilefish is generally described to be a sweet fish with flavor closer to shellfish. Ours was more fish, less sweet.

The composed dish is interesting to look at, with a haphazard approach that gives the dish some energy. Sadly, that energy didn’t make its way into the components of the dish.

The petite potatoes, shaved fennel, and roasted cauliflower florets tasted flat. The brightest element of the dish — Valencia orange sauce — wasn’t enough to lift the other elements.

Overall, we say this one is a pass. But if you love the taste of tilefish, you may well want to give this a try.

Our second entree, Manhattan Filet, was wonderful and clearly the winner of this dinner. The meat was the star of the dish: succulent and flavorful with a terrific sear on both sides.

Olive oil-potato puree is a good accompaniment to the meat, and the ratio of protein and starch is good.

Charred green onions and sherry vinaigrette add pungent aroma and acid (respectively) and really brighten the dish. It’s balanced in a way that makes the steak even more of a showcase — as well it should be.

Our doneness was perfect, and the steak retained its moisture, making it a truly satisfying dish.

The next dish is a Side — and it’s a substantial one! ‘Bravas’ Potatoes is essentially a celebration of potatoes, and these feel like a special version of comfort food. Don’t you want to dive into that bowl?

Fried potatoes are tossed with seasoning and topped with pimenton aioli — Spanish smoked paprika aioli. The smokiness of the paprika comes through powerfully, and it really works.

The hearty potatoes are topped with fried herbs that add some crunch and more flavor. For as deceptively simple as these potatoes sound, they are also fun and playful. And the portion is huge! Definitely share these with your potato-loving crew (or make a meal out of them, if you’re the potato fan in the group)!

Desserts at Toledo are sweet, miniature masterpieces, as stunning to look at as they are fun to eat. This isn’t surprising when you learn that one of the pastry chefs at Toledo was on the opening team at Amorette’s Patisserie in Disney Springs. The same attention to detail and high level of pastry skill is evident.

The dessert menu includes a selection of beverages as well as plated sweets. All of the Hot Beverages with Alcohol are also available in Barcelona Lounge, but at Toledo, you can get your coffee printed with latte art. 😉

Sweet Wines come from Spain and Portugal and are served by the glass.

Hot Beverages without Alcohol also mirror Barcelona offerings, which is to say they’re delicious and strong!

From the quartet of dessert offerings, we ordered the Chocolate-Avocado Mousse, and the avocado really comes through! But first, let me answer the questions I KNOW you’re thinking — “seriously — the mousse is just in a little spiral on the plate — basically two raspberries worth of mousse — and THAT’S $10?!???!” Yes. Yes to both questions. Sometimes fancy desserts don’t make sense to us, either. Case in point.

Anyway — back to the actual food review — we didn’t love that we could taste the avocado so prominently. We expected it to provide creamy texture, so it was a bit of a surprise that it also provided so much flavor. But it wasn’t horrible, and if you’re more familiar with avocado desserts, you’ll enjoy this.

The other major component of the dish, strawberry basil sorbet, was a little less enjoyable than the mousse, unfortunately. The basil was far too prominent, and it overwhelmed the strawberry flavor.

We enjoyed the garnishes on the dish which included yummy vanilla meringue and crunchy crumble. (But that doesn’t mean it’s worth $10. For $11 you can get a No Way Jose the size of your whole head…and it’s 100% amazingly delicious. So…yeah… .)

The Tapas Bar was by far the favorite dessert of the evening. The menu describes this as a ‘progressive’ dessert, and with each delineated bite, the diner gets a completely unique (and delicious) flavor experience.

The flavor progression begins with Spanish coffee and moves through crunchy chocolate, raspberry mousse, lemon curd, and vanilla mousse.

Each component is well thought-out, from the tiny meringue kiss to the bitter chocolate curl. And because it’s designed to be progressive and in perfect ratio, you can really slow down and enjoy each bite singularly. No rushing through the Tapas Bar; take your time, linger, and enjoy.

Inside the bar portion of the Tapas Bar is a two-layer treat that’s part mild chocolate crisps (think tiny wafers all chopped up) and rich chocolate cake. It’s decadent and interesting and a great palette for the stronger topping flavors.

And with that: we’re full! Happy and full. Toledo — Tapas, Steak, & Seafood does not disappoint…that much.

Nosh or Not?

Journey to Toledo if: 

• You’re ready for a relaxing and delicious night out 15-stories above the World!
• You love Spanish food, culture, and art.
• Small plates and bold flavors are your cup of tea… or, in the case of Gran Destino Tower, gin.

Enjoy a meal elsewhere if: 

• You’re not ready to dive into the flavors of Spain.
• Tapas isn’t your thing… and the entrees are too fussy for you.
• You don’t have time (or the inclination) to enjoy table service dining on vacation.

Overall

Some logistics before we dive in: at present, Toledo offers a 10% discount for Annual Passholders and DVC Members, but it does not accept Tables in Wonderland. This is subject to change, so be sure to check with Disney before you dine here so there aren’t any surprises. Toledo is one Table Service credit on the Disney Dining Plan, with the Deluxe plan getting diners a tapas option along with an entree, beverage, and dessert (standard plan doesn’t get a tapas option). We learned from our server that management at Toledo hopes to keep the restaurant a one-credit restaurant in order to make the experience of dining here more accessible to more people. Of course, this, too, could change, so we’ll be watching and update as necessary.

But what do we think about Toledo? It’s a play in contrasts. Stark black and white in the decor contrast with soft grays and blues. Endless views are contained by dramatic metal arches. Bold flavors battle with small bites. Our dining experience wasn’t perfect; we weren’t massive fans of a couple of the dishes we tried. But the experience — from the exceptional service we received to the lovely design of the space to the setting atop a 15-story-high tower — is memorable.

Click here to revisit our FIRST LOOK to learn more about the design and dining spaces at Toledo — Tapas, Steak, & Seafood.

And if you want to learn more about Gran Destino Tower and its TWO lounges, click here for our WE’RE LIVE post, where we’ve linked all of our Tower coverage!

What are your impressions of Toledo? Will you add it to your ADR list? Let us know in the comments!